pricing question for addition/renovation

I am not sure I am posting this in the right place and, if not, would appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction.

With that out of the way, here's my question/problem--I live in Central NJ (07023) and am looking to add on a two-car garage with a master bedroom suite on top of that. I have spoken with a couple of architects regarding the scope of the project and to get an idea as to how much this would cost. The architects have indicated that I am looking at a cost of approximately $225/sq. ft. Accordingly, my addition with a footprint of approximately 25' x 25' is going to run me about $140,000. I realize that the price of materials has skyrocketed in recent months, but does this seem too high??

I have also spoken to a couple of GCs to get an idea who indicated that they really couldn't provide an estimate until I had gotten plans from the architect.

I was also wondering whether the recent burp in the real estate market (I know sales in my neck of the woods have really slowed down and many houses are on for extended periods of time with several price reductions) where many homeowners have unrealstic expectations as far as what there houses are worth, also applies to renovation/remodeling work and some contractors pricing themselves at historically high prices for labor based on the boom in renovations which also appear to be slowing down as well. I didn't state that very well but I hope you get my drift.

Thanks for any insight you guys can offer.

Nick

Advertisement

pricing question for addition/renovation

I can tell you that the material for a 23'x23' addition to my garage is around $3000 It won't have anything above it BUT I don't see how it could be that much. You could buy another house for that much depending on where you live.

Advertisement

pricing question for addition/renovation

I Live in NH, But work in MA.
I'm Not familiar with NJ, but in the suburbs of Boston, that price would be close to the same. In Southern NH, that price would drop a little to about 120K to 130K for such an addition.

Yes prices for materials are going up and up and up.
What are also factors:
The materials you want to use in the structure.
You are getting an architectural firm involved ..add at least $10K +
There may be property issues (Town permit fees and requirements) in your region that have to be addressed financially that the architect is considering)

Also, the time frame that you plan on doing that work;

Our proposals and estimates now state that the quoted prices are only good for 30 days.
We priced and expansion for a Boston area hospital 2 months ago, and we DEFINITELY added an 'allowance' to the figure for the fact that the cost of materials would continue to go way up (i.e. - steel) by the time the job will start.

But, Don't be afraid to shop around. One of our residential projects received a price to do a 2 sided wrap-around farmer's porch and small deck for $50K from a large construction company with an in-house architect and design group. We are doing the project for about $20K less. Another homeowner received a price to repair a badly sagging main carrying beam and joists in her home for $50K. My biz partner's brother (an independent Master Framing contractor) did it for $15K.